An automated telephone response system is a telephone based communication technology that provides callers with services based upon the callers' responses to various prompts. A product or service provider will typically publish a telephone number and connect the telephone line to a computer system that detects voice and touch tones from an incoming telephone call. The provider then creates a series of messages that are accessed by the caller. The messages typically give menu choices or information that the caller can choose from by either voice response or touching a number on their telephone. Such automated telephone response systems include Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, Automatic Call Distributors (ADC), Private Branch Exchanges (PBX), and Voice Over IP (VoIP) systems, to name a few.
Typical services that can be obtained through an automated telephone response system are hours of operation, account information, package tracking or connection to a human operator for more complex services. In the simplest form, the caller will be greeted by a welcome message, and given a choice of services to choose from. In this case, the messages are pre-recorded to provide the specified information. As an example, a regional chain store may welcome the caller to the store call center and then give a choice such as: “For store hours, press or say 1. For a list of store locations, press or say 2.” When the caller makes a selection, the automated telephone response system then plays the appropriate message containing the information selected. In some instances, more information may be required from the caller, than just picking an option. For example, a larger national chain store may choose not to give one message that lists all locations, but rather give a message that says: “To find a store near you, press or say 2.” Selecting this option would then lead to a message that says: “Please enter or say your 5-digit zip code.” When the caller enters their zip code, the automated telephone response system then plays the message giving the location of the nearest store.
Automated telephone response systems can also provide more complex services and give dynamically created messages. While a credit card company, for example, may have pre-recorded messages for their mailing address, or for local branch locations, they will also provide services such as account balance information, payment due date, or the ability to make a payment over the telephone. When a caller wishes to know their account balance, the automated telephone response system may ask for the account number, the caller's name or other identifying information such as a customer PIN number. The automated telephone response system then creates a reply message based upon the balance of the identified account: a message that applies only to the caller's account. This level of interaction requires that the automated telephone response system be integrated with the credit card company's account management system. If, further, the caller wishes to make a payment over the telephone, the automated telephone response system can prompt the user for an account number, a payment amount and a payment date. Here, the automated telephone response system must also be integrated with a banking verification system.
In many instances, automated telephone response systems are inadequate to handle all of the caller's needs. This may be because the request is to complex to be adequately modeled as a series of menu steps, or the service may be of an occasional or unforeseen nature. In these instances, the provider may have made no provisions for such requests in the automated telephone response system. Also, the automated telephone response system may be unable to make sense of the caller's responses. Examples include entering account numbers in error or that do not exist on the company's account management system, or when the caller has a thick accent such that speech recognition software is unable to interpret the caller's responses. In these cases, it is common for automated telephone response systems to route the caller to a human operator to handle the call. In addition, the option to speak with a human operator is often provided within the menu choices, as a courtesy to callers who do not wish to navigate the automated telephone response system.
Businesses that employ automated telephone response systems experience many benefits in terms of improvements in productivity, quality of service and call volume. Because a caller can obtain a wide range of static information (e.g., hours of operation, location, etc.) and services (e.g., account balance, payments, etc.) from an automated telephone response system, the need for operators is reduced. Even when an operator is required, the automated telephone response system can off load the tasks associated with identifying the caller and other routine matters, so operators can spend more time answering questions and solving problems. Furthermore, because the automated telephone response system can effectively and efficiently route calls based upon the caller's needs, the operators can be more specialized in particular areas of interest, leading to higher quality assistance. Finally, because fewer calls actually require the assistance of an operator, the business can handle a larger volume of calls, and can extend the hours of operation of the call center.
One other advantage provided by the automated telephone response system is the inherent call load leveling function provided by the operator hold queue. Typically, when a caller requests an operator, the automated telephone response system places the caller on hold while it determines if an operator is presently available. When an operator becomes available, the caller who has been on hold the longest time is connected to that operator. Without this queuing function, a business has a choice: they can staff enough operators to handle the peak call volume but then have operators who are idle during off peak times or they can staff enough operator to handle some lower call volume and then have to turn away callers during the peak times. The operator hold queue permits the business to staff for the average call volume, with callers in the queue left to experience longer hold times during peak times.
While automated telephone response systems have been a great boon to the businesses that employ them, they have often been a source of frustration to the callers who experience them. Complaints typically focus on difficulty navigating the menus presented, particularly as it relates to getting to the human operator, and on waiting through the queue times. Successfully navigating an automated telephone response system often requires correctly selecting from up to ten menu items. In the first instance, this may lead to confusion because, by the time the message has listed the tenth option, the caller may have forgotten the correct number to push or say to get to their destination. Furthermore, the choices themselves may be confusing. The caller may not be sure whether to, for example, “press or say 2 for account balance” or “press or say 3 for account status”, when what they wish to know their credit limit. Finally, a caller may inadvertently press the wrong number on their telephone, leading them down the wrong path. These problems are exacerbated when the automated telephone response system lacks adequate menu options to navigate back to the previous menu, leaving the caller no option but to hang up and try the call again.
In order to improve call center efficiency, businesses sometimes try to drive the caller to utilize the pre-recorded or dynamically produced information. This often takes the form of obscuring the menu selections necessary to speak with a human operator. Here the automated telephone response system may require excessive information from the caller, force the caller through several long information steps or otherwise make the caller attempt one or several services unsuccessfully before being given the option to speak with the operator. This often leaves callers frustrated and angry by the time they get to speak with the operator. Add to this a long wait in the operator hold queue (sometimes up to a half hour or more), and callers may simply give up in despair.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that there remains a need to improve the caller experience with automated telephone response systems while maintaining the productivity gains experienced by the businesses that employ them.